UW vs. ASU

Herald Staff

Kickoff: 7:15 p.m., at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Ariz.

TV, radio: Fox Sports Net, KOMO radio (1000 AM).

Washington: 4-1, 1-1 in Pacific-10 Conference play.

Arizona State: 4-1, 1-1 in Pacific-10 Conference play.

Washington: Rick Neuheisel, 44-20-0 in his sixth season overall, 11-6 in his second at Washington.

Arizona State: Bruce Snyder, 124-101-5 in his 21st season overall, 56-40 in his ninth at Arizona State.

Washington: The Huskies’ two-headed tailback of Paul Arnold and Rich Alexis ran up better than 200 yards on Oregon State. It takes a lot of pressure off quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo, who had his best game of the season against the Beavers. Tight end Jerramy Stevens is Tuiasosopo’s ace in the hole in clutch situations. Nose tackle Larry Tripplett is having a great year, despite frequent double-teams. Free safety Hakim Akbar and linebacker Derrell Daniels both are in the top three in the conference in tackles.

Arizona State: Injuries and illness have hit then ASU backfield, but true freshman Mike Williams is seventh in the Pac-10 in rushing. Quarterback Griffin Goodman threw for 394 yards on just 11 completions against Cal. Tight end Todd Heap’s numbers are down, but only because he’s attracting attention from two defenders every time he runs a pattern. Linebacker Adam Archuleta is small (6 feet, 208 pounds), but may win the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

Washington: WR Chris Juergens (knee) is out, FB Pat Conniff (knee) is out, TE Kevin Ware (ankle) is probable.

Arizona State: QB Ryan Kealey (knee) is out; QB Jeff Krohn (mononucleosis) is probable; TB Delvon Flowers (knee) is out; TB Davaren Hightower (pneumonia) is out; SS Willie Daniel (ankle) is questionable; OT Levi Jones (ankle) is questionable; DT Danny Masaniai (ankle) is out.

Washington: The Huskies have to continue the crunching running game that showed itself against Oregon State. Helped by the threat of the run, Tuiasosopo had his kost productive day passing all season. The defensive secondary, burned by the Beavers on deep passes, must have a better showing against the Sun Devils, whose forte is the bomb.

Arizona State: Controlled aggression on defense. That means choosing the blitz intelligently. If Washington gets its running game going, it’s over, because the Sun Devils won’t handle a two-dimensional Husky attack. ASU must protect Goodman enough to allow deep patterns.

Bottom line: This is the best defense ASU will have faced, and it’s questionable whether the Sun Devils can burn the Huskies deep with any consistency. The bet here is that breakdowns against the Beavers were freaks, and that the pass defense will be much improved.

Pick: Washington, 24-21.

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